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AFP General involved with the Parojinog drug ring next, vows PNP

Operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) vowed to arrest a General suspected of providing protection to the Parojinog drug ring in Ozamiz City in Misamis Occidental.

The general, who is a ranking officer of the Philippine airforce, is rumored to be the lover of Ozamiz vice mayor Nova Echavez who was among those arrested in a raid conducted by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). The operation led to the deaths of Ozamiz mayor Reynaldo Parajinog and several others.

A source says President Duterte knows who the general is. The name appeared last year when authorities were completing the list of narcopoliticians. Immediately, the AFP official scoffed at the association, even dared the PNP to conduct an operation against the Parojinogs. The general even challenged Duterte to “come to Misamis” so that he would see the “ferocity” of the Parojinogs.

Nova Parojinog, sources shared, reportedly financed the construction of a mansion for the general. The mansion sits on top of a mountain and is rumored to contain several sophisticated monitoring equipment, an arms cache, a big stainless steel vault which contains billions of pesos and even a helipad. High ranking police and AFP officials usually visit the place to share with the “wealth of the general”.

Mayor Parojinog’s name was mentioned when the controversial drug lord Herbert Colanggo testified that his shabu supply came from the Parojinogs. Colanggo, sources say, was the former lover of Rey’s daughter, Nova.

When Colanggo was still having a relationship with her daughter, Reynaldo Parojinog reportedly sent more than 200 lechons during Colanggo’s birthday. The lechons were flown from Ozamis via Cebu Pacific. Several of the lechons did not reach Bilibid Prisons and were brought back to the City hall where employees of the Mayor had a fiesta.

Colanggo also shared that the Parojinogs earn more than 100 million per month due to shabu sales. The detained drug lord even narrated how the Parojinogs wanted Duterte and PNP chief Bato dead because of the relentless anti-drugs campaigns which affected the mayor’s illicit drug sales.

Nova is now legally married to Edgar Echavez, a former professional basketball player who hails in Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental. Echavez was a former point guard for the Ginebra Gin kings.

In the early nineties, the name Parojinog caught the headlines when Reynaldo and his brother were tagged as the leaders of a kidnap for ransom syndicate tied with the Kuratong Balelengs. Aside from kidnappings, the Kuratongs were also involved in bank robberies, assassinations and then shifted to drug dealing.

Former PNP and now Senator Panfilo Lacson, along with other PNP generals, were tried for reportedly killing members of the Kuratong in an operation in the late eighties. The courts have since exonerated Lacson and his other officials involved in the alleged massacre.

In 1997, Rey ran for politics and eventually became the mayor of Ozamiz. Sources say the Parojinogs controlled the shabu trade in Mindanao, and used their local posts as protection. Most of the shabu supplies came from China yet recently, Mayor Parojinog had reportedly invested in building a makeshift shabu lab which could produce 100 kilos of shabu in just four days.

In 2016, Mayor Parojinog appeared before PNP chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and denied their involvement in drugs. A year later, the head of the Parojinogs is dead.

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IMpact888 is a group formed by investigative journalists in the Philippine and Asia. Established in 2015, Impact Publishing engages in publication, and production of TV shows and radio programs which serve to raise public awareness on what is happening in the country and the world.
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